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Everything you need to know about the WIRED World in 2016

This is The WIRED World in 2016 -- our fourth annual trends report. This standalone magazine, available to buy in print from WHSmith or through the WIRED app, is where our network of expert writers and influencers predicts what's coming next.
From the editor

Welcome to our annual guide to the coming year. WIRED is built on telling stories about innovation in every sector, from tech to design - so in these idea-rich pages you will discover our experts' views on the trends, products, businesses, people and issues that will be significant over the next year. We look at the world through data, with facts rather than opinion as our guiding star, so you will not find any futurology here, nor any provocative if uninformed guesses. Instead, we've leveraged our community of informed, connected influencers to tell us what they're already seeing - and that the rest of us will soon need to know about.

And what an amazing community that is. As well as the WIRED editorial team, you will read contributions here from Melinda Gates and Yves Béhar, from Alain de Botton and Natalie Massenet. You will learn what matters about virtual reality and the blockchain; about the return of beauty and artificial emotional intelligence. We explain how Netflix and Amazon will boost independent film-making; how algorithms will transform gaming worlds; how drones will deliver ever more supplies; and how robotic swarms will conduct wars. Read Rory Sutherland on relational capital and Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder, on why it will be the year of educational social networks. From connected retail to the US elections, we've covered the issues that we think you need to know about.

We asked each contributor to tell us what specific changes they see on the horizon that will affect our readers' lives, not just in 2016, but in the decades to come. "We rethought our approach this year to give it a more utilitarian feel," says Greg Williams, WIRED deputy editor, who is also responsible for this annual publication. "I hope that readers will carry it around for many months, dipping into the content when they have time to read at home, but also when they're on the road. The breadth and depth of our coverage will make it a powerful resource in the months ahead: nothing would please me more than to walk up an aircraft aisle and see people with worn copies of The WIRED World in 2016."

We're fortunate at WIRED to have some of the world's smartest thinkers writing for us - and also a community of readers who are curious, informed and best placed to push the world forwards. Thank you for being part of this project. We hope the insights herein will prove to be a powerful, future-facing resource that is, above everything, useful.

David RowanEditor, WIRED

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK